Book: Identity and Confidence

How does your identity affect how well you make use of your creative abilities?

How does confidence impact your energy and enthusiasm for creative work?

If you are a solo artist or craftsperson, you may sign your work, like Vincent van Gogh did: the book cover image is a detail from one of his paintings.

But even if you do creative work as part of a team and organization, your personality and how you define and think about yourself, your self concept and self esteem, are part of your creative expression.

This is a listing of the brief Sections, each one one in the book has links to additional articles, books or other resources:

Introduction You Have to be an Artist to be Creative, and Other Myths Identity and Being Creative – Aren’t We All Freaks or Outsiders? Acting On Our Creativity Idina Menzel on Embracing Your Uniqueness Gender labels and sexual orientation Feeling Like A Fraud – Insecurity and Creative People Developing Creativity – Our Shadow Side Julia Cho: “Least Likely Playwright Possible” Undercutting Our Creativity With Self-sabotaging Limits Creative Potential of Eccentricity Creative inspiration – R. Keith Sawyer on myths of creativity More Intelligence, More Creative? Naomi Watts on Identity and Self Esteem Does Creativity Have An Expiration Date? Creative Thinking: Imagine You Are Seven Again Developing Creative Identity Without Losing Authenticity Filmmaker Dee Rees on writing as an expression of coming out The Complexity of the Creative Personality The Creative Personality: Director Terrence Malick Creative People Shouldn’t ‘Tone It Down’ High Sensitivity, Solitude, Introversion Confidence and Creating Envy and Your Creative Life Tama Kieves on confidence to pursue creative dreams

Douglas Eby, M.A./Psychology – I am a writer, researcher and online publisher on creativity and personal growth; creator of the Talent Development Resources series of sites, and author of the above book, plus:

I have been researching creativity and creative people for over twenty years, interviewing many dozens of coaches and psychologists, plus actors, writers, directors, designers, painters and other artists.

In his article Self Esteem means feeling good inside, Karl Perera puts it simply: “Self Esteem is what we experience when we feel good about ourselves and when we feel good inside… when you like what you are doing, where you are going and feel you have your priorities right…. What you need to feel good inside is within your power. It is not the result but the route to achievement.”

“Many eminent individuals reported experiencing social isolation and loneliness as children. Many came from homes where there was ample opportunity for time alone for a variety of reasons and circumstances.

“Some were deliberately kept from having friends by their parents who feared the friend’s negative influences. Some creative producers sought solitary time as children to escape family tensions and stressful circumstances. Solitary time in childhood also supported the development of a rich internal fantasy life, one that could aid creative thought.”

Jessica Chastain

Acclaimed for her performances in “The Help” and in “Zero Dark Thirty” (as a CIA analyst who untiringly pursues Osama bin Laden), Jessica Chastain has talked about some aspects of herself and her personal life that may have helped her create such powerful characters as an actor.

A GQ magazine (U.K.) profile noted Chastain “has spent much of her life feeling like a fraud.

“While studying theater at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School [she had earned a scholarship], the actress was terrified that she’d be exposed as a talentless hack and sent home.”

“It’s really why I never partied with the other students,” says Chastain.

“There was a bar called Malarkeys that almost everyone would go to. I probably went twice in three years. In fact, I’ve never really been wasted. I’m not a fun person.”

In other interviews, Chastain has talked about her high sensitivity – a personality trait shared with many other talented actors and performers.

“I was the girl who cut school to go to the park, and the other kids would be smoking and drinking and I’d be reading Shakespeare.” … “I’m very sensitive in real life. I cannot not cry if someone around me is crying…even if it’s not appropriate. I have that thing in me, a weakness or sensitivity.”

In a post of hers, Juliet Bruce, Ph.D. notes that Csikszentmihalyi wrote,

“If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude.”

“Like the color white that includes all colors, they tend to bring together the entire range of human possibilities within themselves. Creativity allows for paradox, light, shadow, inconsistency, even chaos –and creative people experience both extremes with equal intensity.”

Here are a few qualities he lists, and Bruce summarizes:

* A great deal of physical energy alternating with a great need for quiet and rest.

* Highly sexual, yet often celibate, especially when working.

* Smart and naïve at the same time. A mix of wisdom and childishness. Emotional immaturity along with the deepest insights.